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Sunday, 19 April 2015

Music - Part 415 - Adrian Sherwood

Various
– Sherwood At The Controls Volume 1: 1979-1984 (On-U Sound)

LP/CD/DL

Out Now

Dub Reggae
genius is recognised in the first of an On-U Sound reissue campaign.

If you’ve
ever wondered what all the fuss is about with Adrian Sherwood, then this new
compilation of his early productions and remixes will help guide the way.With only four months of the year gone, we
have seen the most recent efforts by Sherwood in collaboration with DJ Pinch
and where the whirlwind began as far back as 1979.

For artists,
it is his skills as producer and mixer that have given him a near legendary
status in the industry, not just in his clear love of reggae and dub but in
other far reaching genres as this collection proves.

Working with
The Slits for instance, the original female punk band fronted by the late Ari
Up (she would also front New Age Steppers another Sherwood artist), he would
become one of the most sought after producers around.The Slits’ Man Next Door was a sparse
Sherwood affair, with meandering guitar work from Viv Albertine and Red Indian
chants before they were fashionable.The
subtle reverb effects and general emptiness a trademark of the sound that would
unfold over the years.

Mistah Linn
He Dead by Shriekback cheekily contains sections of one of the remixes that was
later made for Depeche Mode (or it vice versa?) with the are People People? 12”
remix.It also features some of the
sounds that would become synonymous with Sherwood, Tackhead and Fats Comet
projects which he would become a main member of – loud, startling, muffled
drumbeats and dubs in, out and all around.

There are big
names on At The Controls Volume 1 with The Fall (Middles Mass), the
extraordinary Annie Anxiety (Third Gear Kills) and Mark Stewart (Learning To
Cope With Cowardice) each displaying their own unique sounds but helped along
by the vision of Sherwood and ‘that’ sound.Interesting too that these three artists all have new albums for 2015.

On the dub
reggae front we have Singers & Players, Prince Far I and Medium Medium
supplying not only further examples of the man, but also of their superb interpretations
of the art.

The vaults
of On U-sound have well and truly been opened and the unmistakable talents of
Adrian Sherwood, once way ahead of his time, will soon be unleashed on a World
that has finally caught up to the delights and pleasures of his undisputable
skill.